Part 4: 10 things to know about Ohio's budget bill

Editor's note: This week, GateHouse Ohio Media is pointing out 50 things from the new budget bill that affect Ohioans. This is Part 4 in a five-part series.

COLUMBUS Gov. John Kasich included all kinds of tax changes in his executive budget proposal at the end of January.

There were hikes on taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and other products, and on oil and gas produced via fracking, among other measures.

The proposals weren't too different from other tax reforms the governor has attempted in past budgets. Republican lawmakers, as they have in the past, dutifully removed much of Kasich's tax package.

Here are 10 other things, mostly related to taxes, to know about the new state's new biennial budget:

1. Holding the line: You probably heard earlier about the governor's proposal to increase tax rates on cigarettes and other tobacco and vaping products. That language was removed by the Ohio House and left out by the Ohio Senate and the Conference Committee. Rates on those products will remain the same, for the moment.

2. But(t): Lawmakers did fiddle with taxes on "premium cigars." Lawmakers included a lengthy legal definition for such products — namely that they are wrapped entirely in tobacco leaves, with no filter or tip or mouth piece made of anything other than tobacco, and that the "weight of one thousand such rolls is at least six pounds."

Lawmakers limited the "maximum tax" that could be charged on such premium products at 50 cents per cigar.

3. Brackets: The final budget eliminated two of Ohio's non-business income tax brackets, ending two separate ranges of up to $10,000. There's also language specifying that anyone with adjusted gross incomes of $10,500 or less "will owe no tax," according to the Legislative Service Commission.

4. Sales tax holiday: Have you enjoyed the annual back-to-school sales tax holiday, created annually in recent years under separate legislation offered by lawmakers? The next one is scheduled for the first weekend in August, and lawmakers included another such holiday for August 2018. That means they won't have to revisit the issue again until 2019 or thereafter.

5. Tax break: Habitat for Humanity's ReStores locations, which sell building materials, furniture, appliances and other donated items, and other retail locations operated by nonprofit housing groups now will be exempt from property taxes, under language in the final budget legislation.

6. Amnesty: The state tax commissioner will be required to offer a temporary amnesty program to allow those delinquent on their taxes to make amends. The program will be offered from Jan. 1 to Feb. 15 next year and will cover a range of taxes that were due as of May 1 of this year. There are some caveats; according to LSC, the language "specifies that the program does not apply to any tax for which a notice of assessment or audit has been issued, for which a bill has been issued, that relates to a still-open tax period, or for which an audit has been conducted or is pending."

7. Online sales taxes: The budget requires out-of-state sellers with at least $500,000 in sales to Ohioans to collect and remit sales taxes on those purchases.

8. Disclosure: Biennial budgets will have to include detailed information about business incentives authorized under each two-year spending plan. That includes the funding impact of an array of tax credits.

9. Speaking of tax credits: Companies that receive job-creation tax credits for expansions or relocations will be able to count certain "work-from-home" employees in their overall work force counts. There are requirements on such workers, including that they live in Ohio and are supervised from project locations, according to the LSC.

10. Political parties: The tax commissioner's role in distributing funds collected through the Ohio Political Party Fund checkoff has been reduced. Instead of the commissioner taking collected funds and disbursing them to state and county political party offices, the Tax Department instead will send checkoff collections to the state parties, which then will allocate half to county parties.

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